Tag Archives: Southwestern

Tortilla Soup (aka, Mexican Corn Soup): Yes, Please

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*Definitely* one of my favorite soups.

Not into Indian food? Hard to believe—have you ever given it a chance?—but to each his own. Let’s return to a cuisine that is no doubt more familiar to most of my readers: Southwestern / Mexican / Tex-Mex. I’m posting this recipe today at the behest of my sister. She loves my soups and received five of them for her freezer last Christmas. (She doesn’t enjoy cooking.) If you’re new to my blog, it’s worthwhile reading the skinny on soup to learn just why I eat so much soup. Not that I need a reason beyond “because it’s so delicious!” but there are health and weight reasons it’s great, too.

Today’s dish takes the soul-warming Southwestern flavors you love and puts them into a soup. I’ve used the recipe of Wolfgang Puck as a starting point but include many of my own ingredients and touches. There are tons of recipes out there on the web so just poke around to find one you like and read today’s post for a few tips to make it healthier for you and the planet. Well, relatively speaking. It does have a garnish of fried tortilla chips!

Read on, fellow Mexican food lovers, read on. Or, rather, look at the pictures for inspiration and a few guidelines, then get cooking!

1. Prepare your vegetable stock. Many recipes call for chicken stock, but it’s totally unnecessary. Trust me: I used chicken stock all the time before I wised up and started making my own veggie stock. It’s easy, better for you, and better for the planet. Here’s a cooking video that shows you how. If you don’t have time, get it from the store but watch the sodium content…

2. Cut the tortillas into squares or strips and sauté until crisp. Try not to eat them directly out of the pan. Maybe just one or two…and do save a few for the garnish.

3. Remove kernels from cobs and add to food processor along with onions, garlic, and poblano peppers. (Peppers optional: heat varies so take care.)

4. Whir away. Pretty! Smells great, too.

5. Add to pot with tortillas along with chopped tomatoes and stir together. (You can use canned tomatoes if you prefer.)

6. Mix it up over medium-high heat to bring the flavors together, about 10 minutes. (Don’t forget to add all your Southwestern spices at this point, like cumin. That’s the key!)

7. Pour in stock, stir, and add the corn cobs. Bring up to a boil then simmer until thick and reduced. Reducing takes a while, but you’ll see how the flavors are enhanced and the soup gets thicker. This is a critical step: don’t rush it. Do some other stuff while it’s cooking, just stir it every now and again.

8. Once reduced, remove the cobs and and carefully use the straight edge of a large knife (the back edge) to scrape off the remaining kernels. Can you skip this step? I suppose, but it’s worth the effort to add these wonderful concentrated flavors and viscosity to the soup while reducing your food waste. Plus, you’ve come this far… You can do it!

9. Add the kernels and stir. Feel free to purée the soup if you like a less chunky texture, or thin out with a bit of remaining stock. (But not too much otherwise your reducing was all for naught; you don’t want to dilute the incredible flavors.)

10. Prepare the toppings of your choosing. I enjoy a sprinkle of cilantro, cheddar cheese, and diced poblano pepper plus a few tortilla chips.Now, just garnish and serve. So delicious!

So there you have it: tortilla soup in ten steps. More than your average soup but remember as always to put some in the freezer and keep some in the fridge for subsequent meals. It’s even better the next day…

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Southwestern Scrambled Eggs (and Other Breakfast Musings)

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Mexican Food: It’s Not Just For Dinner

It feels good to be getting a lot of my dishes featuring global cuisine up here of late. While using big flavors and spices is key to any fabulous cookery, it’s especially important in plant-based meals to bring those vegetables to life. I have many more dishes lined up featuring Indian, Japanese, and Greek cuisine, but I’m currently on a Mexican roll so I’m going to stick with that for a few more days.

Mexican food isn’t just for dinner or lunch, you know. Of course, this makes perfect sense: I’m pretty sure Mexcians eat breakfast, too. I also know from a lot of the comments I’ve been getting – and thank you for all of those! – that you love Mexican food just as much as me. Thus, if you’ve not experienced some of the finer Mexican breakfast fare -Southwestern, Tex-Mex, whatever, I’m not splitting hairs here – then here’s your cooking inspiration for the day.

It’s an Egg Fiesta!

One of my favorite brunch treats is to take eggs and dress them up all nice and fancy in Southwestern duds. Yes, eggs are a wonderfully nutritious food that do not cause heart disease when consumed in moderation; that’s decades-old science that has evolved. (Longer post on egg nutrition is coming soon, but that’s the upshot, despite the single-study sensationalism you might have seen in the news this week.) I certainly enjoy making homemade pancakes every now and again, especially when they’re bursting with summer blueberries or raspberries and whole grains.  And, of course, my regular breakfast is a piece of whole grain toast with peanut butter, black coffee, and a piece of fruit or berries.

There are lots of ways to bring Southwestern flair to egg dishes, whether breakfast burritos or Huevos Rancheros. I threw together this recipe based on the ingredients I had in my fridge: eggs, corn tortillas, cilantro, scallions, black beans, corn, onion, and red peppers. The dish was also inspired by two things in particular: 1) I had just made salsa verde the night before for a cooking demo I did at a party and 2) I wanted to thank my husband with a special breakfast for helping me load-in for said event. (I was doing a demo involving chili, nachos, guacamole, salsa verde, and pomegranate martinis, and it was rather involved; more here about that event.)

The Quick How-to (and One Glorious Photo)

I lightly fried a corn tortilla in a bit of canola oil until crisp. The next layer included a black bean and corn salad-cum-salsa (similar to that described here but with different veggies and the addition of lime juice and finely diced jalapeño). Two softly scrambled eggs  (cheddar or jack cheese optional) were placed atop the salad and the whole shebang was garnished with salsa verde and a few scallions. Daunted by this recipe? It does take a few minutes to pull together, but a quicker option with similar ingredients is my breakfast taco.

Is it just me, or does this photo look a bit like a sombrero? I think I’ve been staring at it too long.

Nutrition Showdown: Southwestern Eggs v Granola and Yogurt

Well, I said I’d get to the egg thing in detail another time. Suffice to say at the moment that the whole egg is a nutrient-dense food high in protein and other vitamins and minerals. Add to that some whole grains from the tortilla and the variety of vegetables and beans in the salad and you’ve got a powerfully nutritious brunch high in both soluble and insoluble fiber from all of the plant foods. The heart-healthy oils used in small amounts here also increase the bioavailability of fat soluble nutrients found in the vegetables, like carotenoids. Remember that most people do not consume enough vegetables or beans that are optimal for chronic disease prevention and incorporating them at multiple meals is a way to increase the overall healthfulness of your diet. You can also tell how nutritious this meal is by the variety of bright colors on the plate. (More on dietary guidelines for healthy eating here.) This is not to say that I make elaborate dishes like this every day: of course I don’t. Rather, it’s a festive take on eggs with amazing flavors that I made as a special dish for my husband. Further, its particular blend of macronutrients (i.e., high in fiber and protein) will leave you feeling full all day long, perhaps even until dinner.

Did you think fruity yogurt and granola (or granola bars) is a healthy breakfast? Think again. Sure, there’s some good stuff in there like calcium, vitamin D, protein, and oats, but the good is outweighed by the bad: that breakfast is loaded in sugar. I sometimes serve fresh berry purée with plain yogurt and homemade granola for dessert – which is what it is. If you’re looking for protein and grains for a smaller, simpler breakfast, think about peanut butter on whole grain toast, which provides protein, legumes, and grains without all that sugar. A ready-to-eat breakfast cereal can work, too, but read the labels, as they vary widely in their nutrient content: select one that’s whole grain, high in fiber, and low in sugar.

Now. I’ve been craving eggs all week, and it’s a Saturday. Time for me to make brunch.

Is it too early for bloody marys?

Thanks for visiting The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen! To learn more, please read my mission and subscribe to my blog from the home page to bring sound nutrition science to your plate in delectable ways, breakfast and beyond. You can also become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or check out my food porn on Pinterest.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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Mexican Food Wrap-Up. (May Include Indian Food.)

Just a quick post to say Happy Cinco de Mayo! Whether you are Mexican or not, at least here in the US many of us look forward to this day to enjoy festive food and drink. It occurred – while I sit on the train en route to Portland Maine for the day – that I have a few posts of this ilk, so I’m simply summarizing them here in case you are looking for some last-minute cooking and eating ideas this weekend. These are a mix of Mexican, Southwestern, and Tex Mex foods. This small list will grow over time and doesn’t even include one of my favorite dishes, black bean and corn burritos, which I keep in the freezer for on-hand healthy eating. Ceviche also comes to mind, as does peach salsa with juicy sweet farmers’ market peaches…

In the meantime:

As much as I adore Mexican food, I actually made Indian food yesterday (chana masala) with some of my garbanzo beans in an unanticipated culinary irony; it was a special treat for my husband while I was out of town.

Olé.

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Don’t See Red: Expand Your Horizons with Salsa Verde

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Salsa is amazing, and not just in a “dancing under the stars on the boardwalk in breath-taking Sydney Harbor with handsome men I just met my first night in Oz” kind of way. (True story.) Nope, I’m talking about the versatile condiment that can be prepared using a variety of fruits and vegetables – tomato, black bean, corn, peach, mango, and so forth – and has many more uses beyond chips ‘n’ dip. There are likely as many different varieties of salsas as there are ways to utilize them. The first use that comes to mind for most is tasty complement to tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, chili, nachos, huevos rancheros, and the like. (I love Mexican food!) There are many other terrific ways to use salsa, too, like on a gorgeous piece of grilled fish. Whatever your pleasure, the upcoming Cinco de Mayo holiday is a great time to try a new salsa. And, since it’s way too early in the season for some of my favorite fruit salsas, we’ll begin with salsa verde, or tomatillo salsa.

Toma-who now? I’ll bet not everyone knows what a tomatillo is, so let’s begin with a brief intro before moving on to the recipe and a few serving suggestions (healthy food porn!). A staple of Mexican, Southwestern, and Latin American cuisine, the tomatillo is a tart culinary vegetable (botanical fruit), which is a member of the nightshade family, as is eggplant and tomato. It looks like a small green tomato and comes in its own cute little wrapper. The inedible papery husks are removed to reveal a firm, usually green fruit most commonly used to make salsas and sauces. About 20 calories in half a cup, the tomatillo has a bit of fiber and pro-Vitamin A carotenoids important in eye health as well as a few other vitamins and minerals. It’s no nutritional powerhouse like kale or squash, but who else knows what’s in there that we nutrition scientists just haven’t discovered yet? The broader your intake of vegetables and fruits, the better off you’ll be. Regardless, it’s a low-calorie veggie that makes a fun alternative to red salsa and brings zing to a variety of dishes.

Roasting Tomatillos. Start by unwrapping and washing 7-9 tomatillos; they are naturally sticky. Toss them in a bit of EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) and season with a touch of salt and fresh black pepper. Pierce gently in 2-3 places to avoid an improbable but not impossible exploding tomatillo situation. Roast for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven. When the bottom surface is brown toss them onto a different side for another 15 minutes or so. Prod with a sharp knife. If it enters easily, they’re done, if not, toss onto another side and continue roasting until soft. Depending on the size of the tomatillos, total roasting time will be between 20 and 40 minutes; you may need to remove the smaller ones first.

Making Salsa. Roughly chop 1/2-1/4 an onion and a few cloves of garlic and scrape into a food processor. Add the tomatillos. Pulse until the salsa is the desired degree of chunkiness. Squeeze half a lime into the mix. (As when making guacamole, start with half and, depending on how much juice there is, add more if desired.) Add a small splash of white balsamic vinegar and pulse again. If you like heat, add finely diced jalapeño. Some people also include cilantro. You can further adjust the seasonings with a touch of agave nectar or EVOO, if you like. Note: you can chop the tomatillos by hand to save yourself some dish washing; I’ve done both, and either works perfectly fine.

Cooking Notes. If  you’ve never tried tomatillo salsa, be forewarned that, unlike its sweet red counterpart, tomatillos are quite tart. This is why it’s such a great accoutrement to so many dishes, of course, especially savory-cheesy things like Mexican food. However, if you find yourself puckering – but go you for giving it a shot! – you could try adding some less-acidic foods for balance and texture. Corn kernels work great, for example, and so does chopped avocado. Or, you could add some tomato and do a “best of both worlds” salsa, which is also very pretty. I’ve made all of these variations either for presentation purposes (i.e., color) or simply to keep things interesting. In these cases, however, I recommend chopping everything by hand to avoid blending yourself up a brownish smoothie instead of colorful, chunky salsa. No one wants to eat that.

Serving Suggestions: Beyond Chips

Tacos aren’t just for dinner. Softly scrambled eggs stuffed in a whole grain corn tortilla with black beans, red peppers, cilantro, and tomatillo salsa make a fabulous breakfast taco.

Southwestern chili with tomatillo salsa. See how much prettier the green looks?

One of my favorite Mexican dishes is black beans and polenta garnished with cheddar cheese, tomatill0 salsa, and scallions. (You can substitute brown rice if you prefer.)

Another brunch preparation, Tex Mex eggs are served on a crispy whole grain corn tortilla with two salsas, tomatillo and black bean & corn. A bloody (or virgin) Mary is the perfect accompaniment.

Final words of tomatillo encouragement. In addition to the above non-chip preparations, you can of course also dollop a bit of tomatillo salsa on individual nachos, just as you would with tomato salsa or heart-healthy guacamole. If you’re still nervous about trying the tomatillo, go for guac! It’s an acquired taste, but once developed avocados are down-right addictive. Whichever, I encourage you to expand your horizons beyond the same-ole standard tomato salsa. Live a little! That is, in fact, what Cinco de Mayo is all about.*

–

*Yeah, I just made that up, poetic license and all. But here’s the real scoop on Cinco de Mayo, and if you read the article you’ll see that apparently in Vancouver there is a sky-diving event to commemorate the holiday. I feel like that puts into proper perspective my humble request for you to, er, get a little crazy by trying a new salsa. And if you’re still reluctant, there’s always celebrating Caribbean-style with an air-guitar contest. (Huh?) Doesn’t anyone just drink Mexican beer, for goodness’ sake? Yes, apparently, in Malta – and certainly here in the US.

Ah, Wikipedia.

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public health. She brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, check out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!